German court: Parliament must not be sidelined in future bail-outs

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Leigh Philipps, EUobserver, 07.09.2011

Germany's highest court on Wednesday approved the country's participation in the Greek bailout and eurozone rescue fund, throwing out suits attempting to bring a halt to the country’s participation in the first, €110 billion bail-out of Greece and the eurozone’s €750 billion rescue fund.

But the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe also said that the German parliament must have more say when it comes to agreeing further bailout packages. [...]

Responding to the ruling, Janis Emmanouilidis, an EU institutional expert with the European Policy Centre think-tank, said: "The Karlsruhe verdict does allow the EU to move on, especially since it is coupled with an increasing commitment in Berlin to a long-term solution of the crisis."

"The Court's decision will allow the rescue programmes to go ahead and provide the grounds for implementing the already- adopted instruments and measures aiming to enhance economic governance," he continued.

"But the most significant development in recent weeks and months is the growing realisation that all this will not be enough: either the euro zone moves towards a fully-functioning Economic and Monetary Union or one crisis will follow the other until maintaining the common currency becomes untenable."

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